Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson are to play Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in a new play about the rivalry between the two legendary actresses.
Bette & Joan, which runs at the Arts theatre from 5 May to 25 June (press night 10 May), centres on the meeting between Davis and Crawford on the set of 1962 film Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? After a 30-year rivalry, the two great divas discover they actually have some surprising similarities.
Scacchi returns to the London stage following her appearance in The Deep Blue Sea at the Vaudeville theatre in 2008. However the actress is probably best known for her screen work, which includes films Presumed Innocent, The Browning Version, Emma and 2008’s Brideshead Revisited, along with TV’s Broken Trail and Rasputin.
Dobson is still remembered for her long-running role as Angie in TV’s EastEnders, however she has a considerable body of stage work including Frozen at the National Theatre – for which she was Olivier Award-nominated – Thoroughly Modern Millie and Hamlet in the West End and, most recently, Calendar Girls at the Noël Coward theatre.
Playwright Anton Burge is the author of several biographical plays including Whatever Happened To The Cotton Dress Girl?, also about Davis, which played at the New End theatre in 2008.
Bette & Joan is directed by Bill Alexander, whose work includes King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mappa Mundi and Frozen – starring Dobson – at the National Theatre and the long-running stage production of The Snowman, which enjoys a residency at the Peacock theatre each Christmas.
CB